RIVERDALE, N.Y. — Rider coach Kevin Baggett has talked all season about the importance of having a post presence. Some nights the Broncs get it, others it’s missing.

Thursday night, Danny Stewart brought it.

The junior forward scored 22 points and grabbed a career-high 16 rebounds, leading Rider past Manhattan, 69-60, at Draddy Gymnasium in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference game.

Stewart’s double-double was his second of the season.

“He’s a guy that I can count on,” Baggett said. “He’s a guy that we can trust when we throw it down there.”

Anthony Myles finished with 13 and also set a career-high with 14 boards.

The last time Rider had two players with a double-double was on Jan. 27, 2011 in a win at Iona.

Stewart scored five consecutive points after the Jaspers cut the Broncs’ 10-point lead to one with 4:18 remaining.

His three-point play, after he out-hustled two Manhattan players, put Rider up 57-53 and he followed that with another layup. After Rhamel Brown made 1 of 2 free throws, Myles then drove in for a bucket, pushing the advantage back to seven.

“I was just going hard to the glass,” said Stewart of the key play in which his shot was partially blocked but still banked in. “Once I got the rebound, I was trying to get our team a win any way possible.”

Manhattan coach Steve Masiello tipped his cap to Stewart.

“He got the best of us,” Masiello said. “He took it to us. We didn’t have any answers for him.”

Myles knows life is much easier when Stewart is an interior presence.

“We trust Danny,” Myles said. “There are going to be games when he struggles, but we don’t worry about that. We let him go. When he has a mismatch, we don’t hesitate to give him the ball.”

The Broncs (8-9, 3-2), winners of two in a row, led by 10 multiple times in the second half, but couldn’t pull away.

Shane Richards led Manhattan (4-11, 2-3) with 18 points on six 3-pointers. His 3 with 7:05 to go cut the Rider lead to 49-45. CJ Jones (11 points) made 1 of 2 free throws, pulling the Jaspers within 54-53 at the 4:31 mark.

Manhattan was playing without its starting backcourt. Both George Beamon, the league’s top returning scorer, and point guard Michael Alvarado are out with ankle injuries.

Masiello said both of their returns are uncertain.

A sloppy first half featured nearly as many fouls (26) as either team had points. Midway through the opening 20 minutes, the two combined for 15 fouls and 14 points.

Both Nurideen Lindsey and Junior Fortunat picked up three, while Manhattan’s Ryan McCoy had four and Roberto Colonette three.

Fortunat had four quick points, but his third foul, with 8:59 remaining, forced him to the bench for the remainder of the half. Lindsey ended up fouling out with seven minutes left.

In total, the game featured 51 fouls. Rider shot 36 free throws, making 24, including 8 of 8 by Stewart and 8 of 12 over the final 1:42.

The Broncs eventually used a 12-1 run to grab the lead. Stewart finished the first half with 13 points and 11 rebounds, scoring seven straight for the Broncs as they took a 22-14 advantage.

Stewart’s layup with 31 seconds left gave Rider a 28-20 lead at intermission.

There won’t be any style points for this one, then again, there rarely are in road wins.

“They gave us a scare,” Myles said, “but we came up with it. We’re getting this thing going in the right direction.”